Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos Quotes

The scoundrel has his good qualities, and the good man his weaknesses.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

Success, which is not always a proof of merit, depends more often on the choice of a subject than on its execution.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

The shame love causes is like its pain; we only feel it once. We may feign it afterwards, but we do not feel it. However, the pleasure remains, and that is indeed something.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

Luxury, nowadays, is ruinous. We criticize, but must conform, and superfluities in the end deprive us of necessities.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

An opportunity missed once will present itself again, whereas a too hasty action can never be recalled.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

Love, like medicine, is only the art of encouraging nature.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

Either you have a rival or you don't. If you have one, you must set out to please, so as to be preferred to him. If you don't have one, you must still please so as to obviate the possibility of having one.

Pierre Ambroise Franois Choderlos de Laclos

Man enjoys the happiness he feels, woman the happiness she gives. This difference, so essential and yet so seldom noticed, has a marked difference on the whole of their respective behaviour. A man's pleasure is to satisfy desires, a woman's is chiefly to arouse them.